A quick test for the drug-resistant bacterium MRSA has helped a London hospital to cut infection rates by almost 40 per cent in a single year.

By testing more than 18,000 patients admitted to University College Hospital during 2006, doctors found 850 who were carrying MRSA.

The test was able to detect MRSA in nasal swabs in two hours. Those who tested positive were then given an antibacterial bodywash, a nasal ointment and, in some cases, antibiotic drugs.

The aim was to reduce the risk that MRSA on the skin or in the nose could be transferred to wounds, or to other patients.

In the 12-month trial, MRSA blood-stream infections fell 38.6 per cent compared with the previous year, and wound infections by 27.9 per cent.

A causal link between the testing and the fall in infections cannot be proved, says the team in the British Journal of Surgery, but they suggest that the rapid availability of the test results is a possible explanation. They believe that the tests, which cost £11.59 each, or £302,500 for the year, saved money. Almost as much was saved by increased bed availability.

Peter Wilson, consultant micro-biologist at UCLH, who led the study, said: “To win the war on MRSA, hospitals need to consider effective new technologies, such as rapid tests which can help speed the selection of appropriate interventions.”

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